


The Rabbit and The Moon

by OMGitsgreen



Series: The Tales and Dreams of Dragons [5]
Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:26:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4441166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMGitsgreen/pseuds/OMGitsgreen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"How odd. Shin-ah could immediately pick up some patterns, like puzzle pieces strewn together haphazardly on parchment, but Shin-ah didn’t know how they connected or what they stood for. The fact that meaning could be divulged from this was certainly a wondrous feat, Shin-ah thought thoroughly impressed. Yun and the others truly were amazing to know how to do such things, Shin-ah thought as he turned through the pages oh so carefully." Sometimes stories connect people through time and space, sometimes to teach lessons, and are always told in order to say what cannot be said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rabbit and The Moon

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a combination prompt fic for both cynicwithatwist and goldenwooly. Cynic wanted Shin-ah learning how to read from Kija, while Wooly wanted a bit of Papa Ao goodness in canon, so, here we go! Please enjoy this new level of feelings because God knows I cried. 
> 
> References made to my fic ITSCD, though not necessary to read before this. And let’s just assume this takes place after chapter 108 though nothing spoiler-y happens in it.

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."  
-Buddha

* * *

Yun was cradling the books in his hands with all the love and care Shin-ah had seen village mothers attend their own children with. It fit Yun well, Shin-ah thought. Sometimes he could have as sharp a tongue as a knife, but he was always warm and kind to everyone despite that. Saying one thing and doing another, Shin-ah had thought it had been quite confusing when they had first met. However Shin-ah had grown comfortable and fond of that trait of Yun’s. After all it made him who he was, a precious singular person that Shin-ah enjoyed spending time with.

“What books did you get at the market?” Yona asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“One is history, the other is all about herbology, and the last one is all folktales,” Yun explained.

“Folktales from around Kouka?” Yona asked before saying, “I love folktales! Will you let me read it, Yun?”

“Of course, but just be gentle with it okay?” Yun told her and she nodded excitedly.

“Ah, the kids are so lively tonight.” Jaeha chuckled, and Zeno bounded over with a wide smile.

“Zeno thinks it’s nice that the Lad gets something for himself!” Zeno nearly chirped as Hak just rolled his eyes.

“That’s because if Yun is happy then the food is better,” Hak said and Zeno childishly stuck out his tongue out at him.

“But Yun does work very hard. I am happy you’ve found something to enjoy,” Kija said from where he was sitting. Yun flushed then, muttering something about rare beasts and how they should mind their own business, and Yona laughed a trilling bell-like laugh and everyone joined in. Shin-ah felt warmed, even though he was always so cold, as if their laughter was like the thawing spring breeze. But something other than that was filling his thoughts. A curiosity tugging at his mind from the same place that wished for nothing more than to spend whole nights gazing at the sky.

And so he promised himself that he would at least try to sate it that night.

* * *

Shin-ah knew he was doing something that was not-good. It wasn’t necessarily bad, because he wasn’t stealing the book. He fully intended to give it back once he had peaked at it, but taking it without asking was not-good. But Shin-ah couldn’t help it, really. After all the urge to look at things was sometimes too much for him, and he didn’t know what he would find in there. And so with the book in hand, Shin-ah snuck out of the tent and just beyond the edge of the clearing. After finding a little nook by the roots of a sturdy maple tree where moonlight filtered in from the canopy in syrupy pale beams, Shin-ah settled down. Of course he could see perfectly well, but the book illuminated had its own noble beauty to it.

Shin-ah had never held a book before (there was barely anything to read in his village except for the Rules and the ledgers kept by the Council of Elders, and even if there had been he was certain he wouldn’t be allowed to read them because he had other important duties to attend to), so he was surprised at how heavy it was in his hands. Paper bounded together with leather was utterly defenseless and fragile, and yet it had a presence all of its own. Scuffed and obviously well-used, Shin-ah handled it with singular care. And so with breathless anticipation Shin-ah opened the cover.

Symbols were scrawled across the page in strange patterns and combinations, and Shin-ah was taken aback. Was this what books looked like inside? How odd. Shin-ah could immediately pick up some patterns, like puzzle pieces strewn together haphazardly on parchment, but Shin-ah didn’t know how they connected or what they stood for. The fact that meaning could be divulged from this was certainly a wondrous feat, Shin-ah thought thoroughly impressed. Yun and the others truly were amazing to know how to do such things, Shin-ah thought as he turned through the pages oh so carefully. Some were filled with those symbols, others pictures. As he continued to flip through he suddenly stopped on a page.

A beautiful illustration inked with many colors was spread across the page at the very end of the book. A rabbit, a fox, and a monkey all going up a path in a beautifully rendered forest. This story, he thought with a start, he knew that story. It was the story of the rabbit upon the moon. Was that the story that the jumbled symbols were telling on the page? How wonderful, Shin-ah thought elated, that he knew something that was in a book. He wondered what other stories he knew that were hidden by strange symbols to be unlocked by a knowing eye and mind. It was the good sort of mystery, Shin-ah thought as he continued to flip back through very carefully, marveling at the pictures and the unknown words within.

“Shin-ah?” Kija voice surprised him from his internal revelry and he jumped, before clutching the book tightly. Kija popped his head through the thicket of trees, appearing of silver and starshimmer in the moonlight. “There you are! I woke up and you weren’t there so I wondered where you went off to. Were you reading?”

Shin-ah was immediately drowned by guilt. He shouldn’t have taken the book, but it had been as beautiful and mysterious as the far off stars that he hadn’t been able to help himself. He had done a not-good thing, a bad thing by taking what couldn’t be understood by him, where others would find so much more meaning and enjoyment. And immediately to reconcile this mistake Shin-ah held out the book to Kija, who frowned in confusion.

“You want me to have it? But…you aren’t done with it yet, are you?” Kija asked concerned as he took the book from Shin-ah’s grasp and Shin-ah was suddenly very confused. He shook his head firmly, which only seemed to deepen Kija’s confusion. “So you are done with it? How long have you been out here reading it?”

Shin-ah shook his head again.

“So you weren’t reading it?” Kija asked, before suddenly he took in a sharp breath as if he was coming to a terrible conclusion. “Shin-ah…do you not know how to read?” 

Shin-ah nodded, before frowning and feeling something twist in his belly. Why did Kija look so upset? Had he done something wrong? Had taking the book been such a bad thing? What could he do to possibly make this right? But as soon as his internal panic had reached its peak, Kija grabbed his shoulders.

“As your elder brother, I will take this responsibility upon myself! I will teach you to read!” Kija said firmly.

“Read…?” Shin-ah asked surprised and Kija just smiled.

“You want to, don’t you? That way, you can get the most out of the book. Besides, everyone enjoys reading and I think it would suit you!” Kija said eagerly. “That is, only if you want to. I could ask Yun—“

Shin-ah shook his head before motioning to him. Kija was being so kind as to offer, and he obviously wanted to. If it would make Kija happy, then certainly Shin-ah would gratefully take the lessons from him.

“Wonderful! If you would like we can start tomorrow,” Kija said and Shin-ah ducked out of the trees and into the clearing with Kija. “You should make sure you get some sleep! We have some learning to do tomorrow!”

And so Shin-ah followed Kija back, his heart light. And as he slept he dreamt of pages of a book.

Kija was an earnest and excitable teacher as Shin-ah found during his time learning. They had no paper and ink (as Kija explained was the way he learned), but they made due with sticks and the dirt. After dinner every night Kija taught him all the letters, and often told him how impressed he was by how quickly Shin-ah picked it up by the second day. Shin-ah tried to explain that things he saw more often than not were imprinted upon his memory after a few times of looking. But the more difficult part of reading he found, was connecting the patterns to the sounds they made. And so they started slow, Kija writing the symbols and Shin-ah speaking them until he could do it without hesitation.

Finally came words and how those symbols strung together in certain ways could mean something that Shin-ah knew intrinsically when he spoke. The others chimed in to help when they could. When Shin-ah was fishing with Jaeha he taught him a song he had learned as a boy, with Zeno they played word games, Yun drilled him on vocab as he helped skin a boar, Hak scratched letters into the dirt as they practiced, and Yona made sure to spell out as many things as she could. And so finally when it came to reading the book of folktales, though Shin-ah found himself clumsy at first, he began to make sense of the secrets of the pages in front of them and watched as before his eyes they morphed into stories.

They started at the beginning of the book of folktales. Kija was always patient and helped him through the parts that were difficult, but Shin-ah found such wonder in knowing that he didn’t mind how long it took him to get through one story. So enthralled he would pour over the stories he read every night in the dark, brushing over the page with his fingertips as beneath his eyelids burst a world beyond his imagination. He understood why Yun so loved to read then, and how parched he would be for books himself.

It was as they gathered around the fireplace that Shin-ah smoothed his hands over the words on the page and spoke them aloud, his voice soft and reverent as the last story in the book unfurled before him,

“The Rabbit and the Moon.”

* * *

_“Once, a long time ago, there was a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. They all promised each other to practice good charity to celebrate the night of the full moon because they believed this charity would give them great rewards. And so the three companions walked along together back to the fox’s den to celebrate, but while walking through the woods came across a beggar. The beggar wore nothing but rags and was as thin as a reed, but asked politely if the three companions had any food to spare.”_

_“Seeing it to be a good opportunity, each companion strived to offer the beggar the best they could. First the monkey climbed the highest trees in the forest to pluck the most luscious and juicy of fruits. Secondly, the fox, seeing himself to be very clever, tricked a bird out of giving him her eggs for the beggar to cook. But the rabbit despaired, because what can a rabbit do but gather grass and weeds? In spite of this shortcoming, he was resolved to carry out his promise of charity. So, when the beggar created a fire to cook his eggs, the rabbit threw itself into the flames and ceased to live.”_

_“The beggar then pulled he rags from his body to reveal his true form. The beggar was the sublime spirit of the moon itself, who was honored by their promise of charity in his name and had wished to thank them if they had been truly virtuous. So touched by the rabbit’s honor and sincerity, the moon spirit drew the rabbit’s likeness on the moon itself, and it is still there today.”_

* * *

“That story always makes me so sad,” Yona murmured as Shin-ah finished. “Why did the rabbit have to die? I never understood that.”

“It’s all about how one may never get thanked and think about the rewards of charity, and that no matter what one must carry out the promises they make in order to reap rewards in heaven,” Yun said with a shrug. “It’s supposed to teach children that.”

“The Lad is such a realist,” Zeno murmured.

“Well no one said life is fair. Heaven is supposed to be what matters in the story,” Yun scoffed and Jaeha just sighed.

“That’s not very romantic of you is it, Yun?” Jaeha asked as he stretched, Hak elbowing him as he encroached into his space.

“Oh please,” Yun said with a roll of his eyes.

“Shin-ah, is something wrong?” Kija asked his concern echoing in Shin-ah ears.

It was wrong. Shin-ah thought, feeling as if a knife was twisting in his gut. The story was wrong. It wasn’t the story he remembered. In that story told by the warm and gentle voice, traced by a large hand into the sky, the rabbit had lived. The rabbit had lived on in that story and watched the Moon draw his likeness into its face. So why? Why had the rabbit died in this story? It was befuddling to him.

“The…rabbit,” Shin-ah murmured and as if sensing his distress radiating from his twitching fingers Kija flustered.

“I’m so sorry, Shin-ah. I didn’t think the story would upset you,” Kija gasped. “It’s my fault isn’t it?”

“Oh yes White Snake, it’s your fault that the story was written that way,” Hak said with a roll of the eyes. Shin-ah instead just shook his head before saying,

“Rabbit…doesn’t die,” Shin-ah tried to explain.

“You mean, you’ve heard the story before?” Yun asked and Yona blinked.

“Oh! So someone told you a different version then?”

Different version? Shin-ah tipped his head to the side and Yona nodded.

“Sometimes people change stories to fit the people they are telling it to! When you heard it, the person probably changed the ending,” Yona explained and Shin-ah blinked at this new revelation.

Changed the ending? Shin-ah thought, his mind racing.

His thoughts were still moving at an unprecedented pace as everyone else slept that night after dinner had been eaten and the fire had been put out. Ao looked up at him with wide, concerned eyes as Shin-ah got out of bed that night with the book and held it in his hands, reading the story again and again and brushing his fingers over the pictures. This was the story that everyone else knew, the one recorded down on the pages of this book. Why was it only him that knew a different version? Why was it that the ending was different? Why did the rabbit live instead of die?

Why did he change the ending?

The question burned through him. If the story was supposed to be about how charity might not be recognized on earth but in heaven, and how one should keep promises if they wished to be rewarded, perhaps the version everyone else knew served better. So why? He had certainly told him stories with sad endings before. So why? Why that particular story?

“The rabbit lived…” Shin-ah whispered and suddenly it struck him like lightning. If the rabbit lived he would see the fruits of his labor. He could be proud and happy of the honor bestowed on him. If the rabbit lived he would look at the moon every night and be happy. The rabbit would find happiness. He would—he would—

Because maybe, even Shin-ah would find happiness from his charity where others had failed.

Suddenly he was running, to where he did not know. Shin-ah just knew he had to be somewhere, as he ran so hard his heart might burst through his chest. He was running and running, Ao squeaking and scurrying after him as Shin-ah ran and jumped over trees and bushes, and ran and ran until he burst through the trees and into a larger clearing. The moon was so large and luminous then that it looked as if it would fall right from the sky, as if he could reach on his toes and brush against its surface. And there he traced the image of the rabbit upon the moon in the midst of that full sky that danced and twinkled with so many colors and shapes and planets and constellations and clouds humans had no name for. But it was the moon that anchored him there where he might have been unmoored, the moon that had allowed him to be named, which had lead him from the darkness on his coldest nights.

"“Tell me…what does the sky look like to you tonight?”

His voice resonated through him and he suddenly saw him. Perhaps he was an echo of the past, a mirage of moonlight and summer wind, a trick of the eyes, but even more so the vision of the heart. But just for a moment, he was there standing opposite of him. Hair long and unruly, tall and sturdy as an oak, amber eyes flickering in the moonlight as a smile graced his lips. He remembered his fierce and stern brow, his stubborn jaw, and the marks they shared. Everything suddenly flooded back into him with such force that it nearly knocked the breath from his lungs

"Colorful,“ Shin-ah croaked, "the moon is…big. This big!”

Shin-ah held open his hands wide and Ao’s voice echoed from the past.

“We both know that’s not true, you brat.”

“It’s beautiful!” Shin-ah sobbed even though his eyes were obscured by his hot tears that poured down his cheeks.

"I hope the moon always looks as beautiful to you as it does now. Even if you can’t see it anymore.“ Ao told him, his voice crackling.

“It will!” Shin-ah promised, “Because…because you gave me everything!”

“It’s the other way around…Shin-ah,” Ao’s voice came with a laugh and a tearful smile that beheld all his hopes and dreams. And Shin-ah didn’t care, even if this was his dream or Ao’s. It wasn’t important, because they would always be connected.

And then just as a flickering moonbeam disappeared in the day, Ao was gone. And as if Ao’s presence had been the only thing supporting him, suddenly Shin-ah dropped to the ground, his legs numb as his companion scurried up to him. And Shin-ah cried tears that felt like summer rain and for a moment felt enveloped completely by his emotions.

And Shin-ah felt loved. He really did.

* * *

“You really scared us, when we woke up and you weren’t there!” Yun chastised him as they walked along the path to the next village. “Next time you go on a midnight stroll, don’t fall asleep in the meadow!”

“Is it so surprising that a Seiryuu would wish to spend the night beneath the stars, Lad?” Zeno asked him with a laugh.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Kija said, “that the story wasn’t as you remembered it.”

Shin-ah just shook his head.

“Fine,” Shin-ah promised, “thank you…Kija.”

“I’ll be happy to help you continue to read!” Kija announced, fluffing up as a proud bird might.

“Just say no, Shin-ah. Or else it won’t ever end,” Hak teased.

“Kija’s earnest nature is truly a force to be reckoned with,” Jaeha observed and Yona just giggled.

“It’s quite adorable, isn’t it?”

“Adorable?” Kija nearly squeaked and the others chimed in with laughter. For a moment Shin-ah paused as his eye was caught upon the meadow, before the group looked to him.

“Are you coming Shin-ah?” Yona asked and Shin-ah looked on for one more moment before turning away. Shin-ah nodded and Ao squeaked in affirmation as they continued to make their way up the path and onwards towards their new adventures and stories, whatever they might be.


End file.
